Two police officers tackle a grisly serial killer case tied to a local legend in The Soul Eater. Captain Franck De Roland (Paul Hamy) and Commander Elizabeth Guardanio (Virginie Ledoyen) both arrive in the village of Roquenoir on different cases. Franck is on the search for answers about missing children and Elizabeth has arrived to consult on a gruesome double homicide. A possible connection arises surrounding the two cases when Elizabeth finds the dead couple’s son who accuses “The Soul Eater,” a local boogeyman legend, as the one responsible for the murders. When more corpses start turning up, Franck and Elizabeth begin to question if The Soul Eater is real.
The Soul Eater Synopsis
The Soul Eater is a serial killer horror film from New French Extremity pioneers Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (À l’intérieur). The film gives a supernatural folk horror twist to the typical procedural, as a series of grisly murders are tied to the local legend of “The Soul Eater,” a demonic entity that supposedly lives in the nearby woods. However, when Captain Franck De Roland and Commander Elizabeth Guardanio find a possible connection between the victims, it soon becomes apparent that something darker is at play.
My Thoughts on The Soul Eater
Getting straight to the point, The Soul Eater is the serial killer horror film that I was expecting Longlegs to be. Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury do not hold back by staging some extremely graphic and horrific crime scenes, which even without the local legend are unsettling on their own. While The Soul Eater does explain away the supernatural aspects of the story in a way that may be eye-rolling to some, the film is still an incredibly well-done and creepy serial killer horror film.
